Nespresso invests US$170m for Swiss expansion amid growing consumer demand for premium coffee

08 Jul 2020 --- Nespresso is investing CHF 160 million (US$169.9 million) to expand its Romont production center in Switzerland to meet increasing consumer demand for its high-quality premium coffees. The move will also support international development in the years ahead with the first new production lines expected to be fully operational by June 2022.

“Despite the challenging times we have all been living in, this strategic long term investment reconfirms Nespresso’s continuous business success and leadership in the portioned coffee segment, which we pioneered back in 1986,” Guillaume Le Cunff, CEO of Nespresso says. “It also demonstrates our continued commitment to our Swiss roots and the long-term economic development of the region and the country, with which we share values of quality, innovation and expertise.”

“These announcements feel good in times of crisis,” declares Olivier Curty, State Councillor and Director of Economic Affairs and Employment at the Canton of Fribourg, Switzerland.“Nespresso confirms that large international groups can produce competitively in our region. It’s also an investment that strengthens our region in the bio-economy field,” he adds.

Nespresso is investing CHF 160 million (US$169.9 million) to expand its Romont production center in Switzerland.The construction of the second production hall is set to start in June 2021. It will result in an augmented capacity of ten new production lines dedicated to producing Nespresso coffees for the Vertuo and Professional ranges. The expansion is also projected to create 300 new direct jobs in the next decade while increasing third party employment and local and regional business development.

The Romont factory, inaugurated in 2015, is the center of Nespresso’s Vertuo coffee production, now available in 21 countries across North America, Europe and Asia. Vertuo is a versatile system that makes freshly brewed coffee in five different cup sizes using centrifusion technology that recognizes the barcode on the capsule and adjusts the amount of water, speed of extraction and temperature to deliver a perfect cup of coffee.

Over the past two years, Nespresso strengthened its operations in Romont with the addition of four new production lines and the creation of 50 new jobs, while inaugurating a new Product Development Center and a Coffee Campus in 2018, fostering coffee innovation and expertise.

A positive impact on the local economy
Since 2010, Nespresso coffees distributed worldwide have been produced in Switzerland. In addition to ongoing investment in its business, Nespresso has invested CHF 700 million (US$743.6 million) in its three Swiss-based production centers in the cantons of Vaud and Fribourg.

Nestlé has invested, on average, CHF 300 million (US$318.7 million) every year in its infrastructures and operations in Switzerland. Firmly rooted in its home country, Nestlé has 11 production centers and four R&D sites in Switzerland.

While investing in supporting its operations, Nespresso is also committed to its sustainability ambition, that every cup of Nespresso coffee has a positive impact on the world. All three Nespresso production centers are “zero waste to landfill” and production processes have been optimized to ensure heat and water are recovered and reused when possible. In the existing facility in Romont, the heat from the coffee roasters is recovered and used to preheat the green coffee and the factory itself. Any excess heat is redistributed to the local community.

Romont was the first production center in Switzerland, and thus the first factory for Nestlé in Switzerland as well, to achieve the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification in 2015. The new production hall will be built based on the same LEED principles that guided the construction of the Romont production center in 2015.

Edited by Elizabeth Green

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